“Passing the guidon any time through the company is difficult, but even more so during deployment,” said Lt. Col. Rambo. He praised the Delta Company, 5-101st Aviation Regiment and talked about DiGrezio’s loyalty to the mission and the tutelage he leaves behind.

“He is a compassionate leader, leads from the front, a soldier’s soldier and a leader who will be missed,” said Rambo.

DiGrezio has spent 20 months as the company commander. “My job was simple. If it was broken, fix it, but fixing things wasn’t the best part of my job,” he said.

With his voice cracking, he added, “The soldiers standing before me were the best part of my job.”

DiGrezio is heading to Kabul to train Afghanistan pilots. “I leave the Ghostriders with heartfelt pride that we did our best under difficult circumstances,” he said.